Island



NITED STATES PATENT 'FFICE.

GEORGE W. PRENTIOE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

BUTTON-FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,860, dated October17, 1893.

Application filed March 3, 1891. Serial No. 383,558. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PRENTICE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of 'RhodeIsland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Two-ProngFasteners for Buttons, &c.; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawin gs, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

Heretofore in the manufacture of twoprong staples, especially such asare used for attaching buttons, &c., to articles of wearing apparel, ithas been usual to make the prongs parallel with each other throughouttheir length. Sometimes the free or entering ends of the prongs are cutoff at an angle obliquely in order to render them morereadilyinsertible; again the prongs have been reduced to sharppenetrating ends by swaging. An objection to such former staplefasteners is that in the setting operation the pressure on the prongs,upon the latters engagement with the setting-die after passing throughthe fabric or material, acts to distend them laterally or outwardlyagainst the inner sides of the guide-tube, thereby necessitatingadditional power to overcome the resistance due to such lateralpressure. Such outward distension of the prongs at the same timedistorts and enlarges the openings first made in the fab ric by theprong-points, the result being that the holding capacity of the fastenerwhen thus attached to the fabric is greatly lessened.

The object I have in view in my present invention is to produce afastener devoid of the objections just referred to; to that end myinvention consists essentially of a twoprong staple having a head orarch portion arranged to receive eye-shank buttons and having the lowerportion of the penetrating prongs bent inward or inclined toward oneanother. By means of this arrangement of the prongs thelatter are moreeasily deflected and bent inwardly; the prongs are prevented fromspreading or bending outwardly; the fabric or material is not puncturedto so great an extent, and the pressure or power necessary to attach thefastener or staple is less than heretofore required.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, representfront elevations, enlarged of my improved two-prong fastener, showingmodified forms of the head or arch portions. Fig. 5 is a similar view ofthe fastener the ends of the bent prongs being in engagement with thesetting die preparatory to clinching them; Fig. 6 shows a buttonattached to the fabric or material by means of my improved staple. Fig.7 shows a staple provided with two parallel prongs as heretofore made,the prongs being in contact with the setting-die, and Fig. 8 shows thetendency of such parallel prongs to spread outwardly upon applyingpressure, as in attaching them to the fabric.

My improved staple fastener is indicated by a, the same having two legsor prongs 19 united at the top by a bent arch or head provided with acenterloopearranged to receive an eye-shank button b. The lower portionof the prongs, say for about one-third to onefourth of their length, arebent at an angle inwardly toward each other, as at p; the extreme ends19 of the prongs are sharpened, substantially as common, so as topenetrate the fabric more readily.

A well-known form of staple is represented in Fig. 7 this also isprovided with a looped head e adapted to receive an eye-shank button.The prongs p are parallel throughout, the ends 19 being arranged toengage the cavity of a setting-die d. The prongs of this staple are veryliable to spread out laterally during the attaching operation, seearrows, Fig. 8, thereby distending and tearing the adjacent portions ofthe fabric, and obviously impairing its holding capacity.

By employing my improved fasteners a the die (1 may be made somewhatnarrower; the prongs p, by means of the inwardly bent or deflectedportions 19' will, upon applying pressure as in attaching the fastener,readily penetrate the fabric and become clinched thereunder, the saidpreviously bent portions of the prongs serving as a guide during theattaching operation; by reason of this improvement the prongs areprevented from spreading out laterally, to the injury of the fabric andstaple.

ICO

In machines or implements used for attaching two-prong staples it is acommon practice to employ removable tubes containing a series ofthreaded or combined buttons and fasteners; such tubes serve toguide thefasteners in their passage through it in a longitudinal direction andprevent them from turning around or becoming displaced. When the commontwo-prong fastener is used there is a liability, as before stated, thattheprongs will spread out laterally while the fastener is passing fromthe mouth of the tube after engaging the setting-die, it beingunderstood that the fastener is for the time being unsupported in alateral direction. When my improved fastener a is employed the wholedownward strain or pressure used in setting" it is not borne directly bystraight prongs as common, or as in the prongs shown by Fig. 7,- but theline of pressure is deflected to the bent portions 19', which latterthen bend toward each other, the pressure thus far being much less thanis required in the former case; the maximum pressure being onlynecessary to finally set or clinch the prongs.

I claim- 1. The two-prong fastener substantially as hereinbeforedescribed, consisting of a bent head or table portion adapted to receivean eye-shank button and two parallel puncturing prongs or legs extendingdownwardly from the ends of the head and having the lower or clinchingportions of the prongs bent or inclined toward each other.

2. The two-prong fastener a of wire substantially as described, the sameconsisting of a suitable head or table portion bent to

